After ranking as Wayne County's most accident-prone intersection for at least four consecutive years, Ford-Haggerty has lost its car crash crown.

"I hope Ford-Haggerty throws a party for itself," said Todd Berg, attorney for Michigan Auto Law, the Farmington Hills firm that compiled the latest rankings using Michigan State Police data from 2016.

The Ford-Haggerty intersection toppled to fourth place last year with 81 crashes, down from 116 the previous year. It fell behind first-place Schoolcraft-Telegraph in Redford (120 accidents), Middlebelt-Schoolcraft in Livonia (90) and Ford-Lilley in Canton (85).

Plymouth and Plymouth Township — Canton's neighbors to the north — had no intersections listed among the county's top 10 most dangerous intersections for crashes.

"I'd love to say it's good policing or the genius of the police chief," Plymouth Township Police Chief Tom Tiderington said with a chuckle, but he attributed it to factors such as less traffic on places like Ann Arbor Road, compared to Canton's Ford Road business corridor. "I think that is a major factor."

Even though Canton is only one of 43 communities in Wayne County, it had three intersections among the top 10, with Ford/I-275 ranking 10th, Michigan Auto Law's analysis shows. All three are along the Ford Road shopping corridor.

In a separate, statewide analysis of Michigan's worst intersections, reported in a blog post by Michigan Auto Law's Steven Gursten, Ford-Haggerty last year plunged out of the top 20 after ranking sixth the previous year.

Ford-Lilley, Canton's only intersection among the 20 most dangerous in Michigan, tumbled from 14th to 19th.

The title for most crashes last year in Michigan went to the Orchard Lake-14 Mile intersection in Farmington Hills, with 163 crashes.

Until last year, Ford-Haggerty had long been Wayne County's worst intersection for crashes. It and the other most accident-prone intersections in Canton are along the busy Ford Road commercial corridor that includes Michigan's only IKEA store and numerous shopping centers.

Moreover, Ford Road development is continuing, with construction coming this year of a new, two-story Art Van Furniture store on the south side of Ford, near Haggerty.

"Ford Road has just been blowing up for years," Berg said.

With Ford-Haggerty no longer the county's top-ranked intersection for crashes, Canton Municipal Services Director Tim Faas said it's possible safety has improved after the Michigan Department of Transportation finished a road project in 2015. It involved lengthening Ford Road turn lanes, adding an extra, continuous lane from Lotz west to Lilley and improving the southbound I-275 exit ramp at Ford Road.

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Officials say road work along the Ford Road corridor could be a reason fewer crashes have been reported.(Photo: Bill Bresler | staff photographer)

Faas said it's difficult to say with certainty if those changes led to fewer crashes at Ford and Haggerty. He said it's "certainly possible" it's a statistical anomaly for one year.

"But it is also likely that some of those improvements that MDOT made between Lotz and Haggerty helped reduce the number of accidents," he said. "That has been the intent of the project all along."

Regardless, Faas said the Ford Road shopping corridor remains prone to accidents. MDOT has indicated the long-term solution is transforming Ford Road into a boulevard and eliminating left turns at intersections, among other improvements. Problem is, no money has yet been allocated for the project.

After fourth-place Ford-Haggerty, Wayne County intersections rounding out the top 10 for most crashes last year are Joy and M-39 in Detroit (80 crashes), Dix and M-39 in Lincoln Park (76), Ford-Wayne in Westland (75), I-94 and I-75 in Detroit (74), Ford-Mercury Drive in Dearborn (68) and Ford/I-275 in Canton (64).